Best (and Worst) of Pakistan and the Karakoram Highway

Here we have some of our best and worst moments of our 28 days in Pakistan and the Karakorum Highway (to Kashgar China), we've also put together a gallery of our favourite photos which you can visit if you don't feel like ploughing through our other gazillion photos. The gallery is available here.

Our FAVOURITE Cities/Towns
According to Yann:
1- Karimabad (Hunza Valley)
2- Passu (Gojal Valley)
3- Gilgit
According to Emilie:
1- Karimabad
2- Lahore
3- Gilgit

Our FAVOURITE Activities
According to Yann:
1- Suf Night in Lahore
2- Shandur Polo Festival
3- Afternoon naps in Karimabad
4- Livestock market in Kashgar
According to Emilie:
1- Shandur Polo Festival
2- Sufi Night in Lahore
3- Livestock market in Kashgar
4- Visit to the Baltit Fort in Karimabad
Honourable Mention: Visiting with locals on Gilgit's main bazaar

WORST Experiences
According to Yann:
1- Wondering why the hell we were in Skardu
2- 20 hour bus ride from Rawalpindi to Gilgit
3- Late night hotel search in Rawalpindi
According to Emilie:
1- Wondering why the hell we were in Skardu
2- Late night hotel search in Rawalpindi
3- Being violently ill in Karimabad

Most DELICIOUS Foods
According to Yann:
1- Burutz berikutz: chapatis stuffed with mint, spring onions and Hunza cheese (burutz)
2- Chicken shawarmas in Lahore
3- Chicken kebabs and fresh naans out of the tandoor
According to Emilie:
1- Burutz berikutz, cheesy goodness!
2- Chap shuros (Hunza meat pies, or "Hunza pizzas")
3- Walnut cake from the "Cafe de Hunza"
Note: You might have noticed we enjoyed Hunza cuisine. Here is an EXCELLENT free cookbook with traditional Hunzan dishes, try some, you will not be disappointed!

BEST Scenery
According to Yann:
1- Karakorum and Pamir Ranges on the Karakorum Highway (Chinese Side)
2- Passu's jagged mountains
3- Karimabad snowcaps
According to Emilie:
1- Karakorum and Pamir Ranges on the Karakorum Highway (Chinese Side)
2- View of Baltit Fort and surrounding 7000m+ peaks
3- Passu
Honourable Mention: Around Shandur Pass

MOST Difficult things about Pakistan travel
According to Yann and Emilie:
1- Hospitality: having to turn down so frequently friendly offers of free tea, food, beds to sleep in...
2- Big city pollution (Lahore! and Rawalpindi)
3- Making sure not to make a social blunder (especially for the ladies)

Things that SURPRISED us about Pakistan
According to Yann and Emilie:
- Incredible hospitality
- Almost complete absence of women in the streets and public places
- So many languages (a different one in every valley), less than 10% of Pakistanis have Urdu (the national language) as their mother tongue
- People in Hunza don't like shaggy Taliban-esque beards
- Only men dance in Pakistan (but that doesn't stop them from trying to get foreign women to dance)
- It's the second place I got a can of ginger ale in 9 months (at the Lahore "imports" grocery store, I love you Lahore "imports" grocery store)
- Red hair and freckles

For those interested in our expenses, we have updated our homepage with our financial information for Pakistan and the Karakoram Highway, it is available here